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Saturday, April 13, 2013

First thing I was annoyed with and it was my own fault for not looking at the product closer is the 'SAE Coaxial Adapter'. I bought this add on because I thought it would plug into my current SAE plug for my battery tender and I could skip rewiring the bike for the vest.

I was wrong. It was the opposite actually. I ended up pulling the battery tender wiring out of the bike and adding in the vest wiring. Then this adapter plugs into the battery tender and then in to the heated vest wiring harness to charge my battery. No big deal, at least I got to swap out some wiring rather than add more to the already filled battery.

I got it all wired up and turned it on. The vest heated up. What more could I ask for. It was about 37 degrees out so it was a perfect day to test it.

Before I headed out on the test I had to figure out what to do with all the wires. My second annoyance was the fact that they send a dual control with the vest.

This is so you can hook up two pieces of heated gear. My issue is I only have one piece so I don't need the extra wire flopping around.
I am going to order a single control for it.

I ended up tossing the control in my tank bag set on 5, the highest setting, and headed out.

37 degrees out and I am sweating within 3 miles. I had to pull over and turn it down. I set it on 3 and it was still a bit too warm but tolerable. I rode about 25 miles and it kept me more than warm the whole time. I think because I am heating my core it also keeps the rest of my body feeling warm. I was only wearing standard street gloves (with heated grips) and hiking boots and neither my feet or hands ever felt cold.

Further testing will be done and I will order up a single control so I can hopefully find a nice mounting spot for it. I don't want to have to pull over every time I want to change the settings.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

I received my tires today for the Memorial Day weekend trip. Dunlop D606 tires. They are going to be the most aggressive tires I have ever run on this bike. Here is a picture of the lug size. We're going to sound like a couple of monster trucks rumbling down the road.

Along with the tires I also received a 14 tooth sprocket. That is two teeth down from my current sprocket so I am hoping for a bit more low end torque with it. My plan is to run it till we get to the end of the trail and then swap back to my 16 tooth for the ride home.

I also got a heated vest from Tour Master. It is the Synergy 2.0. I tried it on but I haven't gotten around to hooking it up to the bike.

The tires I am going to wait as long as I can to put them on but it is going to be hard to resist the urge.